HAVING DIABETES MEANS…

It is often a family matter. The food you eat, the activities you do, the support you get, and your family support are all very important to living well with diabetes. When you take care of your diabetes, you can take better care of your family. Healthy nutrition and physical activity are important for all family members! “They forget I have diabetes. They tell me they are sorry, but then I think to myself it’s not their fault because they don’t have diabetes. They still have to eat, and I’m the one that’s sick, so I have to choose and decide what I should and shouldn’t eat.”*

You can take steps to actively control it. Diabetes can affect many parts of your life… medications, foods you eat, physical activity, and even your moods. Together with your doctor and family, you are working toward a common goal – better health! “Life is a gift and we need to respect that. We need to take care of ourselves so that we can be here for our loved ones who need us.”*

You may need extra support to change your diet. Nutrition and physical activity are very important in controlling your diabetes. And people making changes in these two areas often find extra support to be helpful. “For me it’s very difficult. It seems like everybody in my family forgets I have diabetes. There’s always a lot of fruit. I love fruit, it’s like a drug for me. If it’s in front of me I’m going to eat it. And my husband or children forget and they bring sweet bread and it’s delicious. I know that even with diabetes I don’t have to give up all our delicious traditional food, but it is hard to ignore pan dulce in the house.”*

You have an important role in preventing future complications. Having diabetes doesn’t mean you’ve lost control of your health. You can take an active role in managing your diabetes to help avoid future problems like amputations, blindness, kidney disease, stroke, or heart attacks. “People that can’t see, that worries me, people that go blind. Or people who get their toes cut off and then their feet. That’s my worry. Not that I’m going to die. I don’t want to suffer, I just don’t want to suffer. I don’t want my diabetes to get really bad. And the thing that motivates me is that I know that I need to help myself.”*

* Feedback from internal survey.